By Press Association 2021
A staff nurse puts on PPE in the corridor of the Acute Dependency Unit at St Georgeâs Hospital in Tooting, south-west London
Hospital staff on the coronavirus frontline have described how there is “very little joy” in the job during the second wave, with some in intensive care units resigning and managers concerned over the long-term mental health impact on employees.
Tori Cooper, head of nursing in the Emergency Department at St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south-west London, said the usually good staff morale had been chipped away during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mrs Cooper, 44, told the PA news agency: “There is very little joy in our work at the moment.
On the frontline of the coronavirus crisis: Intensive care nurses and doctors battle to save Covid patients as it is warned London’s hospitals could be overwhelmed in two weeks
Shattered staff at St George s Hospital in Tooting, south-west London say they are working to the limit
University College Hospital staff in London say that they re having to make choices about who gets treatment
Medical director at NHS London Vin Diwakar provided the worrying analysis to medical directors in London
Even if Covid patients grew at the lowest likely rate and capacity is increased NHS would still be short 2,000
By Press Association 2021
A staff nurse puts on PPE in the corridor of the Acute Dependency Unit at St Georgeâs Hospital in Tooting, south-west London
Hospital staff on the coronavirus frontline have described how there is “very little joy” in the job during the second wave, with some in intensive care units resigning and managers concerned over the long-term mental health impact on employees.
Tori Cooper, head of nursing in the Emergency Department at St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south-west London, said the usually good staff morale had been chipped away during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mrs Cooper, 44, told the PA news agency: “There is very little joy in our work at the moment.
The head of the NHS in England has laid bare the extent of the pressure on hospitals across the country with thousands of new coronavirus patients admitted since Christmas Day, while shattered frontline medical staff feared that the worst is still to come.
NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said there were 50% more coronavirus inpatients in England’s hospitals now, compared with during the peak in April, affecting every region across the country.
Nurses work in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in St George’s Hospital in Tooting (Victoria Jones/PA)
He told a Downing Street press conference on Thursday: “That number is accelerating very, very rapidly. We’ve seen an increase of 10,000 hospitalised coronavirus patients just since Christmas Day.
London and the South East at risk of being overwhelmed.
Lindsey Izard, who works in intensive care at St George s Hospital in Tooting, south London, said staff are so stretched that they are having to make compromises on her ward.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer today warned the epidemic is out of control and said Britain was in a race against time to bring case numbers down.
Analysis: Daily deaths aren t as alarming given backlog - but hospital admissions are the real concern
By Ed Conway, economics and data editor
The latest COVID-19 data is out and once again the headline number on deaths is depressingly high - over 1,000 for a second successive day.